In the spirit of focusing on the positive, I thought I would share a few things that made December shine.
Champurrado: Holy hell, how has this hot chocolatey goodness not been in my life sooner? As is my way, my first taste was fancy, and now I am spoiled for life. Champurrado tastes like the love child of chocolate pudding and hot cocoa, and it should be mandatory for every backcountry ski trip, day spent shoveling snow, or any day that you want to feel cozy. Possibly the best recovery drink ever after a snowy, winter trail run, and if you splash a bit of bourbon or tequila in it.... yeah, you'll be even cozier.
Solar panels: Thanks to a very generous patron, the Wild Westish ranchito is now actively and passively solar powered.
Hardwood floors: After pulling up the "vintage" tan carpet that ran up the stairs and flooded into the two bedrooms upstairs as well as the bathroom, we put plywood over the sub-floor and painted it the color of a mountain bluebird. Three years later my impatience with the door and floor trim of 1981 forced a permanent floor solution. I impulse purchased some hickory and we spent two weekends pulling out plywood and nailing in hardwood planks. We did not have experience putting in a hardwood floor, but how difficult could it be? Pretty hard, actually, but damn, it looks good.
This text from Lisa: "My phone tells me that you’ve got an arctic air mass up there. I love how descriptions of weather are becoming much more poetic w climate breakdown." Yes!!
Also this text convo:
Me: How the stars lookin for 2022?
Lisa: For you, excellent. Always, excellent.
Finishing strong: My running watch had a challenge to run 2021 km in 2021. I am in no way a goal-oriented person, but what the heck. I ended up running 2126 km (~1322 miles), at least while wearing the watch. It was a meaningless carrot that was strangely motivating.
Buzzy the Cantaloupe the Antelope (Pronghorn are colloquially antelope): Buzzy didn't get up on the wall until January, but he was a gift in December from a dear friend. Buzzy came with a cabin that my friend bought, but her vegetarian daughter wasn't into it. Of course, we need an ironic piece of taxidermy in the ranchito.
Here comes the new year!
